The the Sahel in Africa is the region between the Sahara Desert and the Savanah. It includes the countries Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Guinea Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.

The UN has described the Sahel as a land of opportunities, but today it is in crisis. Violence in the Mali and Burkina Faso has created a refugee crisis. UN Refugee Agency site for Sahel crisis

What are the economic factors that affect this troubled region? Do they offer any hope for quelling the suffering and violence?

One source of information is the World Bank which tracks both poverty and spending power ( a measure of prosperity).

Poverty – see Multidimensional Poverty Measure (MPM)

Spending power – see International Comparison Program (ICP).

PPP is an economic theory that compares different contries’ currencies through a “basket of goods” approach.